Interview by JM Sylvestre for Forbes Business Inside
A benchmark player in its market, BCP Partners is a recruitment and governance consultancy that today assists a large number of company directors with tailor-made recruitment, in line with today's new challenges. Interview with Blandine Cordier-Palasse, Chairman and founder of the company.
Can you tell us more about the history of BCP Partners and its two main areas of expertise?
BCP Partners is a recruitment and governance consultancy firm.. We are experts in HR recruitment for members of the Executive Committee, Finance and HR, and we have a long-standing niche of expertise in legal, risk, ethics and compliance functions, which has now been extended to include CSR.
I myself was a lawyer and legal director in listed groups for twenty years. That's what gave us our strength and legitimacy when we launched BCP Partners fifteen years ago.
I also co-founded the Compliance Circle in 2010.
Which customers do you target with this expertise?
Through these corporate functions, we now work with a large number of companies from all sectors of activity, whether listed or unlisted, French or foreign.
Our clients are active in industry, services, banking, finance and investment funds, for example.
We also support consultancies and law firms in their recruitment processes.
What added value are your customers looking for?
Our strike force : the network for over 20 years. I have developed a expertise in identifying leaders companies that are transforming.
Customers come to us for our in-depth knowledge of the market. We understand what's at stake. Because we sit on market committees, we know what's going on and what the market needs.
We provide them with made-to-measure advice in relation to the candidates they really need to deploy their strategy, in the light of today's new challenges.
One of our strengths is that we understand the issues that affect our customers. operational companies. This is something that both our customers and the candidates we approach appreciate.
I know the multiplicity suitable land and candidates. We want to make the "Perfect match It's all about the "fit" between the customer's needs and the candidates proposed.
Successful recruitment is complex and multifactorial.
The suitability of candidates also depends on culture, governance, political and personal issues, and so on. You have to know how to spot the codes. With finesse, diplomacy and discretion.
You mention contemporary issues, what exactly are they? What are you doing to address them?
There are many issues at stake. General management is navigating in an environment uncertaintieswith increasingly complex transformations fast and fundamental or even breakthroughs. The managers we're looking for are more agile, capable of navigating troubled waters.
These are challenges and opportunities for companies. Managers are steering by risk management: financial and increasingly extra-financial, legal, image and reputation. New functions are emerging, linked to the integration of sustainability and ethics at the heart of corporate strategies.
The emergence of new roles and the transformation of skills The need for traditional businesses to move in a more sustainable direction reflects the shift in corporate priorities towards a deeper integration of CSR principles into their overall strategies.
In fact, some departments are ahead of the game, using these regulatory changes as a springboard for the development of their business. gateways and levers for innovation by being ready before the others, and with genuine elements of differentiation in terms of competitiveness.
Legal has become a an economic and strategic weaponIn an increasingly complex environment. We are recruiting legal directors who have much more leadership and business acumen, with an appetite for risk, to support managers and operational staff in the decision-making process.
Compliance is first and foremost risk management in an increasingly regulated environment. We fully understand the challenges associated with ethics and compliance in today's ecosystem, where we are seeing a transfer of responsibility to the company, which must do its part to meet the increased demands of ever wider stakeholders.
With this vision, we are able to support them in finding the candidates who will be able to make proposals, in order to develop the business in anticipation or in application of regulations. This is becoming a major competitive factor!
What does the future hold for your recruitment and governance consultancy?
We have positioned ourselves in these niche businesses in a tight market and a shortage of talent. Today's organisations face a real governance challenge. Managers now have to navigate in a world of uncertainty, where they need to be able to anticipate day by day.
The aim is therefore to find managers who are capable of adapting to these constant uncertainties, and who have the foresight and agility to deal with contradictory demands. Managers need to adapt the composition of their Comex/Codir to surround themselves with people who have these abilities.
The objective of BCP Partners will therefore be to support companies in their recruitment. In particular, by taking account of all these upheavals to continue to achieve the " Perfect match "It's a win-win situation for both the client and the candidate recruited.
How do you go about it?
We work with managers to assess the strengths around the table. The aim is to identify and build on each person's strengths, and to recruit complementary skills and personalities, so as to create a team that is equal to the challenges and strategy of the group. This is a permanent puzzle.
In the end, all these subjects, all the functions for which we recruit, are functions that accompany the good corporate governanceThe Group's image and reputation.
This is what enables them to attract the best. And it's because they attract the best that they perform even better. It's a virtuous circle and I'm proud to contribute. For me, the most important thing is human capital.
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